BASIC QUICK BREAD from Baker Bettie

This comes from Baker Bettie. It turned out beautifully. I made half in a 1qt. loaf pan. It baked in 30 minutes. I added 1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese and 1 T. dried chives. I used homemade buttermilk (white vinegar added to milk.) I used table/fine salt, not kosher, and I needed double. I can't even tell there's salt in this so that's my only complaint. The bread is too moist to put into the toaster. Mine fell apart and made a mess so don't try it.

I reviewed a chocolate muffin recipe of hers here.

SOUTHWESTERN CHICKEN CHILI WITH BARLEY

This comes from Quaker. I made half and made some adjustments. I omitted diced tomatoes. I used a little more chicken broth to make this soup and not a thicker chili, about 1 1/4 c. more, and used quick cooking pearl barley in place of medium pearl barley. I should have used more and will do so next time. I used a whole can of drained and rinsed beans instead of  half a can. We had the option of using tomato sauce or salsa so I used most of a jar of pureed mild Pace picante sauce, which is just a runny, less chunky salsa. It had all the salt I needed for the whole recipe. It also had a bit of heat so I didn't need pepper or dried chili flakes. I used one boneless skinless chicken breast that I baked in the oven for 15 minutes, then shredded with a folk. I added it after the soup had finished. The amount of chili powder and cumin in the recipe was perfect.

I grade this an A.

ONE-POT CREAMY PESTO CHICKEN PASTA

This tasty recipe is from Budget Bytes. I used slightly less pasta than called for, 6 oz./2 c. instead of 8 oz., and I used tri-color Barilla rotini instead of penne since they're a similar size, with penne being slightly longer. I used mostly cream instead of milk, but I used about 1/4-1/3 c. more liquid total than the recipe used. I omitted cream cheese. I used about one heaping tablespoon less pesto than I was supposed to and I'm glad I did since it's pretty tangy. I also baked some chicken strips then shredded them after they cooled and added them to the cooked pasta. One suggestion the recipe author gave was to add spinach, which I didn't, and/or add sun-dried tomatoes, so I added about two heaping tablespoons of those at the end but I meant to add them at the beginning after I cooked the onion. Onion wasn't part of the recipe but I always use onion.

I grade this an A!

ONE-POT CREAMY TOMATO PASTA from 12 Tomatoes

This comes from 12 Tomatoes. It uses three tomato products- crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and sun-dried tomatoes. I made half using Barilla bowtie pasta, which was 6 oz./about 2 1/4 c. dry. It made four large servings. I needed an extra 1/4 c. liquid, which was the whole can of low sodium chicken broth. I used garlic powder in place of real garlic, a scant 1/4 t. fine salt, scant 1/8 t. red pepper flakes, 1/2 c. drained canned peas added at the very end along with a cooked and shredded boneless skinless chicken breast. I omitted cream cheese because I don't like it. 

I give this 5 stars!

Edit- I made this again two months later. I made it the same way as before but used rotini pasta, omitted tomato paste because I didn't have any, and added half of a 10 oz. of thawed and drained frozen spinach at the end.

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD from Lil' Luna

This cake is better known as Amish Cinnamon Bread, and it's actually moist cake. Not sure why it's called bread. I've made it several times since about 2014 but I don't know what site it came from. This particular recipe comes from Lil' Luna. It's identical to all the other Amish Cinnamon Bread recipes but she uses a bit more cinnamon, so I went with her recipe. The recipe has no salt in it so I added 3/8 t. but it needs more, another 1/8 t. The full recipe makes two large 9x5 (2 qt.) loaf pans. I made just a quarter of the recipe and it makes an 8" round/1 qt. loaf pan's worth of cake and I used a 1 qt. loaf pan. It baked in exactly 30 minutes. 

I added two tablespoons of ground toasted pecans to the batter and 1/2 t. vanilla extract. You're not supposed to stick a knife through the batter and swirl it around but I did slightly but you can't see it that well in my photo. The cake is very most. I don't like how the top gets hard from the sugar layer. You can see in the photo below that it's a hard, thick topping that cracked when I lifted it out of the pan. I made a glaze for mine.

My glaze: 1 T. melted butter, 1 T. cool water, 1/4 t. pure vanilla extract, 1/8 t. pure almond extract, 1 c. powdered sugar. Mix well and pour over cooled cake. 

ITALIAN SAUSAGE & CHEESE BAKED MANICOTTI from South Your Mouth

This recipe's from South Your Mouth. I made half using jumbo shells (two stores I went to didn't have manicotti) and ground chicken, 10 oz. of it. Half the recipe was enough for 9 jumbo shells but I only had 8. I used less garlic and salt and I needed 1/2 c. more pasta sauce. A piece of advice to you would be to cook your pasta the day before so it's one less thing you have to do the day of. I don't know why the filling called for egg since the cheese was enough to bind this together, so I'll leave that out next time.

I grade this an A. I love that it uses store-bought pasta sauce. 

MELTED MARSHMALLOW HOT CHOCOLATE from Mostly Homemade Mom

This great recipe is from Mostly Homemade Mom. It's very good. The marshmallow flavor is subtle. It did need a scant 1/8 t. salt. Salt completely changed the flavor, not that it wasn't great before that addition. Aside from that, there isn't anything I'd change. I do not recommend adding marshmallows to the top because they change the taste a whole lot, making it taste completely different than how it started out. I didn't add any to my second mug. Edit- This is even better with Dutch process cocoa.

I grade this an A.

CHEWY FUDGY HOMEMADE BROWNIES From Sally's Baking Addiction

These are disgusting and come from Sally's Baking Addiction. Good thing I made a tiny half-batch. I used an 8"x4" loaf pan. I think they took 24 minutes. I got four that were 4"x2". These are very bitter and taste exactly like you melted semi-sweet chocolate with butter and sugar and ate it with a spoon. Shame on me for being sucked in by a photo. If you make the whole batch you'll be spending probably at least a minimum of $5 just on overpriced bar/block chocolate, such as Baker's brand, which is what I used, and at least $1 on butter. 

I grade these an F. Gag.

BAKED CHOCOLATE CUSTARD from Very Best Baking

This recipe is from Very Best Baking, home to Nestle, Carnation, and Libby's. I've been making this custard for probably at least 13 years. After the first time or two I made it I decided to add melted chocolate to it. I add 1/2 c. milk chocolate chips, which I melt in part of the evaporated milk, which I heat first. Adding that amount of chocolate doesn't affect the consistency at all. I've tried using unsweetened cocoa powder as well as melted semi-sweet chocolate in this and they're all very bitter, so I stick with milk chocolate. The chocolate is mild. For some reason the tops of the custard is always a darker brown than the rest. I used less salt, too.

I divide my mixture into five small bowls, each using almost 3/4 c. of mixture, and they baked in exactly 30 minutes but I think they were slightly overcooked. My knife came out with a few bits of firm custard on it. If you follow their recipe and use six dishes, since you have less mixture in each than if you used just five like I do, yours should take less than the 30 minutes mine took, but they tell you 35 minutes for six dishes. For some reason the tops of these are always a darker brown than the custard, which is a pale brown.

I grade the original and my version of this an A.

FAVORITE IRISH SODA BREAD from Taste of Home

This recipe comes from Taste of Home. I made half in a standard 9"x5"/2 qt. loaf pan but should have used one slightly smaller since this produced a short loaf. It baked in 25 minutes. It's very moist. It's very sweet so it should have used more salt but I knew I'd be putting salty spread on it so I didn't add more. I used homemade buttermilk (white vinegar added to milk) and I added 1/8 t. cinnamon. I chopped my raisins before adding too.

I grade this an A.

MOM'S CHICKEN AND RICE SOUP from The Stay at Home Chef

This comes from The Stay at Home Chef. It's a good basic recipe. I made half and used equal parts chicken broth and water. I dislike soup made from pure canned broth so I used half water. It needs more liquid in it. I omitted the optional cream and left out lemon juice and ginger. I got three small servings out of half the recipe. I baked my boneless skinless chicken breast in the oven, shredded it and added to the soup after the rice was cooked.

I grade this an A and will use more liquid next time.

HAMILTON BEACH® ICE CREAM MAKER (Model 68881Z)

PURCHASE: Official site, Amazon, Walmart

THINGS I'VE MADE

VANILLA ICE CREAM PIE

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

LEMON SORBET

PINEAPPLE SORBET

CHERRY ICE CREAM

ORANGE SHERBET

PEACH ICE CREAM

STRAWBERRY SORBET (recipe from booklet)

VANILLA ICE CREAM (from Barefeet in the Kitchen)

PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM (from Copy Kat)

ORANGE SHERBET (from The Kitchn)

COOKIES-AND-CREAM ICE CREAM (from Southern Living)

RICH, TART LEMON SORBET (from Serious Eats)

MY THOUGHTS: This is a basic electric ice cream maker. You have to freeze the metal bowl, which is filled with some type of liquid solution between the metal bowl and plastic outer part, for at least 12 hours before you use it. Whatever ice cream/sorbet mixture you use, you usually have to heat them in a pot on the stove to dissolve sugar and other ingredients then you have to chill that until it's very cold before you put it into the bowl, which takes hours. Do not use more than 4 cups of liquid so that it has room to expand as it's whipped up. You then place the bowl on the base, put the plastic paddle down into the mixture, then place the clear cover over the bowl, which locks the paddle into place, and turn the machine on. It's that simple. The base turns the bowl and the paddle stays stationary, mixing the liquid mixture and keeping the sides scraped. It will take about 20-40 minutes. If the machine turns off before it's ready simply turn it back on. I can't remember but it may turn off after 30 minutes. If you're adding things like fruit, nuts, cookie bits, add them at the end and let it mix in for about 10-15 seconds. The machine is very loud. When it's finished transfer ice cream to a lidded container since the bowl doesn't come with one.

MEASUREMENTS: The box it comes in is 10" x 14". Amazon says shipping weight is 8 lbs.

Base: 4.5"H x 9"W, 1 1b. 13 oz.

Canister/bowl- 6.5" x 7". Inside of bowl is 5.25"W. It's pretty heavy and is over 3 lbs. Doesn't come with lid.

Plastic Paddle- 6"H x 5.25"W, 2.3 oz

Clear cover- 7"L x 8"W, 12.7 oz.

This comes with a 31-page instructional booklet that's in English (11 pages long), Spanish and French.

This includes six recipes for: Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream (contains egg), Easy Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Ice Cream, Strawberry Sorbet, Peaches and Cream Ice Cream, and Cappuccino Gelato. I made a pie using the Easy Vanilla Ice Cream recipe, jarred fudge sauce and graham cracker crust, ground toasted almonds, and also made the chocolate recipe and both were great, especially the chocolate, which uses unsweetened cocoa powder and tastes just like a Wendy's Frosty but needs one less tablespoon of cocoa powder.

This has a 1-year warranty in the U.S. and a 5-year warranty in Canada.

One big tip I can give you is to make sure your house is cool if you're using this during warmer months or the mixture won't mix up right and you'll have to put the bowl with the paddle in it into the freezer for a short time to make it cold. I speak from experience when I say this.

I purchased this myself from Walmart in 2016.